Of the four years I've participated in Ovarian Cancer Canada's Walk of Hope, this one was by far the coldest. But the single-digit temperature in Ottawa this morning didn't cool enthusiasm for the walk or the cause.
Early this morning, Mel and I head...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 8th, 2024
Mel and I went for a walk in the rain this morning. We've been foregoing weekend morning walks in favour of playing pickleball. But today's wet weather had us reverting to a very pleasant stroll in our neighbourhood. I took the photo that appears in th...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 7th, 2024
Writer Alison Wearing emailed today to share what she loves and loathes about writing contests.
But before I get into that, allow me to tell you a little about Alison. In addition to being a writer, playwright and performer, Alison is a memoir writin...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 6th, 2024
In a recent conversation, Mel mentioned that Chris had made baked beans. I thought she meant that he had made baked beans from scratch, as in a big batch baked in the oven or a slow cooker for hours.
— "Chris hasn't made baked beans in years," I insis...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 6th, 2024
I visited The Ottawa Hospital's Cancer Centre this morning for my monthly blood work. I was more anxious than usual given that two women I knew had died of ovarian cancer since my last blood work (as I shared here and here). It's not surprising, theref...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 4th, 2024
"Joy really is all around us if we look hard enough, even if we sometimes have to pull away the spider webs hiding it in the darker corners."
— Diana Austin (1951 - 2024)
I began corresponding with Diana Austin last summer, a few weeks after she was d...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 3rd, 2024
I did something tonight that I haven't done in several years: I watched a movie. Not since the time of my treatments for ovarian cancer, when I spent many a day curled up on the couch, did I take a couple of hours to consume an entire film.
Today's mo...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 2nd, 2024
For the fifth time, I am marking the start of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Before my diagnosis in July 2020, I knew little about the disease. I didn't know anyone who had had ovarian cancer, even though one of my first cousins was—at that very momen...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 2nd, 2024
Last year at this time, I marked three years since my surgery to deal with ovarian cancer and celebrated three years without a recurrence. I also noted that my oncologist had said that the risk of recurrence is greatest in the first 12 to 18 months and...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on September 1st, 2024
This morning, I read a post on LinkedIn that referenced red flag people, a term I was familiar with, but also green flag people, an expression that was new to me. In his post, Jeff McKeon of Australia's NeuroCapability organization defined green flag p...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on August 31st, 2024
